Category: family

B333 – THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A VERY DIFFERENT BLOG POST

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Well I suppose its fair to say that I definitely all kicked off again yesterday right? that snow came out of no where and really started playing with peoples mentions, even Waterloo a train station that has around 250,000 people use it each day, decided that the prospect of snow on a Friday was too much and had no choice but to shut up shop. fair play though, I would probably do that if I knew i could. after all its Friday and I don’t use Waterloo station so I cant really rant about if, but if I did have to use Waterloo last night then it this would probably be a very different blog.

For a friday though it was pretty hectic in a non hectic kind of way, after working in east London and having quite a good finishing time, I then headed into town for a different gig and I have to admit I hadn’t done much research on but turnt out to be a pretty good laugh. Im not really sure if I can say what it was yet, so I might just leave that one for a few weeks and when its out in the open, Ill let you guys know and we can talk about it then. Sorry but thats just the way of the world.

I have got a killer plan today, today im basically doing a really Life admin day, including haircut, gym signing up, clothes shopping and some finances. Im then going to finish up by cooking a meal Ive never cooked before and sitting down to enjoy a good movie, I know that doesnt sound too fun, but I really want to start saving some money for a Leica and maybe going out drinking isnt the best thing for that. I really want to take some cool photos today so I might travel out when its dark and have some fun with the nifty 50mm lens. who knows.

Heres my photos from yesterday.

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– I love seeing bikes with snow on just one side, it looks really cool and abandoned –
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– before the gig, I stopped off for coffee at this really cool cafe in Soho, it was literally full of people speak Chinese and all they served where Marcha cakes –
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– see here are the Match cakes! if you ever walk around Soho and want a coffee / tea / matcha cake, you should stop here. Im not sure what the place is called, but you should try and find it! –

 

B332 – A PHONE CALL WITH ELON MUSK?

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Im going to start this post by saying, yes Norway’s  gets meters of snow each year, in fact last year their average was 337cm, the year before it was 276cm and the year before that is was 255cm and yes their country just accepts this and pulls out their skis and hits the slopes on the weekend. On the other hand England I cant even find the information, all I can find is that 23.7 days each year England gets snow or SLEET! thats obviously ignoring  place like the Cairngorms and other pretty high national parks and stuff. they do alright.

So excuse me daily mail and social media hogs if we get a little carried away by the prospect of the worst snow storm in 50 years hitting the uk. I think its pretty normal for  Doris and all the Soccer mums out there to start stocking up on milk and bread, because if their years on this planet have taught them anything, its that the UK really isn’t used to snow.

Sorry for the rant but I feel like it needed to be said, if only we could settle the debt on how to handle the snow with a big snow ball fight. maybe that would help Heathrow open their runways.

If you cant tell Ive just spent my third day on the sofa, I got sent home from work for being ill. So i came back and had a scroll of the internet and it got me thinking about how to handle the snow in the uk and to be honest I came up with this solution. Why don’t we just put more money into the NHS, think about it. why don’t we build our hospitals up so they can always cope with a 50 year storm all year round? instead or buying thousands of pounds of new snow gear and even more grit that might just turn out to be over kill next year, keep the stuff we got and then just make each council invest the emergency money in their hospitals, so they are more than equipped to handle anything all year round. then meaning they wont always be so stretched?

From there create something like dedicated snow roads, so when villages and towns get shut off  in the future, we’ve created a network of roads that the gritters and plowers  concentrate on. we could even go as far as putting signs up, like “this is a snow road”, create a lay by system if theres some pennies left over, so when it does snow, Jack and Jill can leave there cars on this dedicated Snow roads, at the top of the hills. so at 6am the next morning they can start their commute to work. and just to generally inform the people if there is a big snow storm or if its icy then these roads will be safe.

I tried to come up with a solution for air travel and trains but I think its fair to say that’s a losing battle. they do what they like and not even the pope could change that.

I also really think I need a call with Elon Musk  and Teresa May about how to make gritters a thing of the past. so please the British government or Telsa give me a call and lets grab a coffee, I don’t mind sharing some of my community changing ideas with you.

For now, people of Britain and the rest of the world, here are some photos of London looking gracious in the snow! (all photos taken on my Iphone at some point over the past few days).

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– black and white snow photos in london look so much better I think –
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– I should really buy a leica, imagine if this was taken on a leica –
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– probably my most photographed staircase, for some reason this staircase always takes a good photo –

 

B331 – THE BEAST FROM THE EAST

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So earlier on as I spoke to my parents on Facetime, showing them the snow fall in Bethnal green and also updating them on how I was feeling, which by the way was a little better but still not great, I told my mum how much I wanted to go outside and take photos, she reminded me that it probably wasnt the best idea and all I would probably do is make myself more ill. But everyone knows that when your parents say the words “dont do it” your next move is to do the exact opposite, if I had listened to her then surely that would of made the past 24 years of havoc and mayhem completely pointless and thats not something Im about todo.

So I put a 5 minute timer on, took some more paracetamol, grabbed my jacket and headed down to Bethnal green road. Thats where the timer comes in, i didnt want to spend too much time outside for obvious reason but I needed to see what this snow storm looked like and how people were dealing with it. One of the best things I saw on my quick trip outside was when the lad on a boris bike cycling past me, going slower than a pederstian but do you know what? I was jealous, Jealous that he was grabbing this weather by the balls and taking a boris bike of a few laps, thats the kind of things I used todo! cycling in snow is a great way to pull some sick skids and have a good laugh at the same time, but for some reason that didnt even cross my mind, I’m not sure if its because Im not in the best shape at the moment or what, but thats a brilliant idea and next snow day I am 100% making a blog post about cycling in the snow.

Being sat here on the sofa for a few days now Ive been doing quite alot of thinking about my life style and kind of realising that I cant carry on working extra long days surviving off Haribo and Coffee, I really need to start looking after my temple and keep in shape not so I look good on a beach but more so I can carry on working and maintain the energy needed. thats why this weekend im doing what I never thought I would do and signing up for a gym, somewhere I can go twice a week and keep in shape, Im also going to go and get a sport massage and see if we can get this leg of mine sorted. for too long now Ive side tracked it, but not this weekend! this weekend is all about getting me strong enough so I don’t have to take sick days. I know that sounds weird but I actually really enjoy working.

Anyway heres some pictures of Bethnal Green Road in a snow storm.

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– this type of weather is pretty cool –
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– I love this guys determination! –
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– shes not letting a bit of weather stop her!

B329 – NEED TO ORGANISE YOUR PHOTOS AND VIDEOS? HERES SOME TIPS!

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So I have some news, Im pretty sure that im Ill but not like normal man flu ill. I feel like death. Right now its all about survival  and my body has decided that its probably best to shut up shop and get some good sleep. so thats what im going todo. Its pretty Ironic that I thought the last push when i passed the 300 day mark would be a walk in the park, oh how I was wrong. Im pretty sure that the next 46 days are going to be full on and pretty difficult to take three photos each day but im determined to power on and somehow make it to the end, right now though its all about just kicking this virus.

So the plan for today post Im going to dive deep into my photo archive and see what I can pull up from my early photography days, lets see what there is… my top tip is to archive everything, keep it logged because these photos and video are important content and some day youll want to look at it back and think about those cool moments. My photo archive is still pretty much all over the place but it is getting better, I have a rough understanding of where everything is and for me that is perfect. You dont need an excel spread sheet or anything too crazy. The secrete top tip is just to dump everything in files, you can call it anything you like. from “Birthday Party 2016” to “summer 2017 shots” and back them up onto two separate drives, keep everything in two places and youll be fine. Media Management is important and as long as you can figure your system out then that all that matters.

If your someone out there who knows that your media storage is terrible and all over the place drop me an email to joshfspear@icloud.com and lets come up with a way to organise it all and keep your files safe! trust me you will thank me later! no money needed just good Karma!

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this sheep looks how I wish I felt – 5 Aug’16 in the Lake District
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because everyone love Holland – 28th Sep 2016 at the Hague
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– and this place because I dont think anyone could sit here and not appreciate that window – Prada Museum -17 July 2016 – Province of Novara – Milan

 

B325 – 70 HOURS A WEEK

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Theres a few things that for me a blog post should consist of, they should be something thats easy to read, enjoyable and probably include some sort of useful advise and like a lot of posts that people read online, they are. they are normally full of facts, great pictures of the weather and someone fashionable standing in the foreground, looking like they’re drifting through life going from designer shops to first Class lounges, week after week.

If only I could tell that story, I wish this was a place where I could show on a off my life and keep the content factor at its best but I suppose that in a normal life and in a blog thats posted everyday, something you just have to expect defeat and move on. today is that day, I have had another early start and hadnt really stopped to think about this blog until I was stood in Tescos looking at the fridge section trying to decide if I was going to have chicken or fish for dinner. So I did what any other normal person would do and heeaded straight for the wine section, after a long day everything is better with a good bottle of wine. Thats when it came to me, why dont I just show all those amazing Bloggers and Vloggers out there, what working 70 hour weeks looks like and yes in one of my photos you can see a hole in my sock emerging. I suppose im like the working class blogger of the internet, and thats kind of something Im pretty proud of, Ive managed to somehow fit this posts into my day and to be honest Im not really sure how Ive managed to do it.

Well for all of you out there, I would of shown you a picture of how my dinner turned out, but I really want to get to bed and im sorry but right now thats my priority. please dont hate and and please come and visit again, your all amazing for even reading this far!

Heres my photos I hope you like them!

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– this is me with my feet up on the sofa, watching TV as I write this post –
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– I came home from work to see Amy powering through with work too. There must be something wrong with us, because we dont seem to stop –
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– Dinner is served, just add some Paprika, Cumming and thyme and your sorted –

 

B324 – I WILL BE BACK BUT THIS TIME WITH MY CAMERA – **NEW FORMAT**

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Right now is a pretty busy time for me, yesterday ended up being about a 14 hour working day, with a fair few other things that made it a bit more of a tough day. but that is all in the past now, its now Thursday and Ive woken up a bit earlier to get this post done. The only issue with that is, I dont think Ive woken up early enough, I think maybe I got my timings for this morning a little bit wrong. So the plan is now to type as quick as I can and make some time back up.

Yesterday started off a really cool location, we were over in Essex on a shoot in a Dock yard, obviously doing something that I can really talk about, the whole day has given me so many ideas for future shoots that I would love todo. I feel like places in the UK like Dock Yards are held in a really cool ere in the UK, they all have that cool working mans vibe, where sons follow dads and dad follow Grandads down to the docks and to keep the UK stocked up with supplies. I would love to come back to this place and just take portraits of the people working here, I bet all of them have a story from the docks.

If your looks at my photos my photos today and thinking that Ive filmed in the a weird frame, then thats because I have. from now on I think my plan on really busy days is going to post photos that I put on my instagram story. for two reasons really, firstly on those busy days if you can be bothered to read through my paragraphs of grammar mistakes then just head over to @joshfspear and look at those photos stress free and also I think that its easy to take good portrait mode photos on the insta story and they are really easily transferable to WordPress and sometimes with this blog taking the easy root is the difference between an extra 45 minutes in bed.

Here are my photos from yesterday, much love! and please let me know what you think of these photos, its a new idea for me to use not everyday but maybe every now and again.

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– I wish I could of gone on a ship, they are pretty impressive  –
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– even the stair cases have the work mens vibe. I will be back to the docks with my camera in hand to photograph it more –
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– dont those tall machines look like something out of starwars –
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– this is me, looking all professional –

B323 – MY HOTEL ROOM – 7/10

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So tonight im staying in a Premier Inn somewhere in Essex for a shoot tomorrow. I also know what most people are saying about the fact that im spending my night in a premier inn and to be honest they couldnt be further from the truth. For me a Premier inn is perfect, they have all the requirements I need for a short 10 hour stay. I have a nice sized room, clean bed, safe room and best of all a shower that gives me no only hot water but cold aswell.

For most of you that read pages like like these you are probably used to reading about 5 start hotels and villas in Mexico, all I can offer you is the concept that Premier Inns do the job required and dont leave you with that felling where you want to sleep in your clothes. these places are actually safe havens for people like me, where the idea of short work trips normally involve cheap hotels and uneatable breakfast options. We see a premier Inn on the call sheet and instantly feel relieved  that its not a holiday inn or worst an independent holiday chain, that has a name like “Sunshine Inn” or something just as misleading.

for me the proof is in the shower, if its a good hotel then both the hot and cold water will run an even speeds, giving you a solid mid water temp and nothing too freighting and this Premier Inn is no exception. that have managed to get that situation just right. meaning that tomorrow at 5am, i will be about to have a full and near perfect shower. I don’t need luxury just the chance to sleep a stressfree few hours and include a 3o minute shower in the morning.

Here are my pictures of the Premier Inn room im currently staying in, for me its a solid 7 out of 10.

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– clean bedsheets make all the difference –
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– a good size room is also the difference between a good nights sleep and a bad one –
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– the shower head isnt too impressive but lets the water temp is consistant –

 

B321 – HYDE PARK IN THE MORNING, NOTHING BEATS IT.

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So today Im at the Baftas working not partying I should mention, my plan was probably to show you some photos from before my day, during it and after. but then something happened that I really didnt expect, it was my walk to work. I did what I always do when im at the Royal Albert Hall, I get off at Lancaster Gate and walk through Hyde Park to the stage door. Nothing crazy.

Well this morning as I got off at Lancaster Gate and noticed that the sun was just coming up, it was roughly 7:35 or something (My call time was 7:30 so I was running a but late) As I entered into Hyde park it was unbelievable, the sun was hitting the sides of everything and the water was still, it was literally magical. I felt like I had just walked onto a set of a feature film which was going to win a BAFTA for its lighting, I instantly when for my 5d and then realised I had left my beautiful camera at home, my only choice was to pull out the iphone, and my god Im happy i did. For some reason it just feels right that I took these photos on my Iphone, it gives the photos a feel of just an average londoner walking through the park if that makes any sense. No special lens used, no expensive camera, just amazing light and a bog standard 29mm f2.9 iphone lens. Im definetly a fan of mobile phone cameras and the photography they are capable of.

If I was to give people one top tip about using a phone to get good shots, it would be not to worry about how good the Iphone X is and how amazing the camera is, Im pretty happy with my Iphone 6s right now and definitely don’t think that for an extra £50 a month the Iphone x will improve my photos that much.  If you was to buy an Iphone X on an £80 a month contract, then over the course of 24 months you would spend an extra £1200 on the phone, that means that for the same price you could get a Sony RX100 or Fuji X100f and still have cash left over, now trust me they are some powerful pocket rockets. I personally think Iphone X is over rated, its good but its not life changing. With camera sensors I just think that each sensor model creates its own feel and vibe, at the moment I love the iphone 6s picture quality, thats not to say in a few months or years ill be in love with the iphone X, because I probably will be.

its now coming to the end of my dinner break at work, so Ill stop the rant and if you were hoping to see a photo of my at the BAFTA’s heres one from a few years ago.

Heres my photos from today.

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– I hope Will and Kate are happy with his view –
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– I know I say it most days but the light this time of year is definetly something to rant about –
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– living in East london, you forget how good Hyde Park is –
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– I bloody love london and my Iphone –
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– me in a rare occasion of wearing a suit, I think this photo was taken in 2015 or something. Look at that hand gesture –

 

 

B320 – SAVE YOURSELF!

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Saturday and just like most Saturdays I seem to have at the moment, this one was no different. It involved awaking up pretty early, getting dressed and heading out. The first mission was to get a hair cut but after the que was over two hours, it was quickly apparent that I was going to have to suck it up and walk straight back out the door and head over to Amys Nans house to help with some gardening stuff, not really sure what you call it, but my job was basically to move some rubbish from the garden and fill a skip up.

After we had moved everything into the skip, it was time for me to get a quick lesson in putting up a fence, something that Im pretty sure if push came to shove, I might be able to do my self now. I also got to use a sledge hammer, I refuse to believe anyone that says they instantly don’t feel more manly as soon as they pick up a Sledge hammer and I could of sworn that after I used the sledge hammer I had way more hair on my chest than when I started. but thats taking things to a completely different post entirely.

After my day of learning new DIY tips, it was onto the part I was dreading, the place thats sucks your sole and leaves you broken and craving a cheap fake hot dog, the places I’m talking about is Ikea and for some reason its Amy loves it. I genuinely believe that she would happily walk around there from dawn till dusk. luckily we were only making a quick pit stop there to pick up a wardrobe and some other little things, so we didn’t have to hang around and look at 20 different types of kitchen cupboards. I would just warn everyone out there, that if the idea comes up in conversation to head to ikea on a Saturday night, please try to re-schedule, you will be saving yourself a whole lot of stress.

Anyway, here are my photos from yesterday, sorry they aren’t the best. it was all a bit rushed yesterday.

Oh and sorry if youve sent me a message recently, I will get back to you. I just haven’t had time to sit down and do it. Ill try and get sometime today and respond!

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– At the back of the garden, learning more DIY tips and stuff –
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– Amy rocking the Ikea look –
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– this is just a picture of the train ride, I still love the low light shadows you get this time of year –

B317 – SUSHI ON THE FLOOR

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Its that day of the year again, Valentines day. What I like about this day is that everyones exceptions are so different is unreal, not like christmas where if you don’t spent every last penny in your bank they your a scrooge. No, Valentines day is more of a decision between partners on what is an acceptable gift, for Amy and me its simple, this year we got a card each, I splashed out on a pen that had a dog stuck on the top and then we sat on the living room floor watch classic movies, eating Sushi and drinking Prosecco.

Thats probably about as valentines day vibes as the flat gets and to be honest it was kind of just right, there was no going to expensive restaurants, where i have to wear a shirt and Amy nearly has to break an ankle in shoes which are way to high for her hips. we just took it easy this year. Im not really sure where Valentines even comes from to be honest, I really feel like maybe a card factory has too many blank cards left over from Christmas and just decided to create a day to help get rid of them, but what i do know that it kind of is important to spend a day with your partner having fun and just enjoying the company and maybe Im being naive but thats just kind of something that happens most days in Flat 315. Amy is definetly going to read this and think that Ive reached the highest level of “cringe” there is, but im sure she will build a bridge and get over it.

Anyway thanks for a really fun evening amy and im sorry that instead of carrying on, im now laying in bed writing this post because again I have to be up really early and wont be able to get this post done in the morning but much love mush and happy valentines!

Josh

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– cheers to another valentines together –
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– take away sushi, what is better on a day like todo –
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– this photo is from my lunch time walk today, how cool is east london –